Contact centers use various metrics to quantify performance of agents in the contact center. For example, some contact centers use the average time that the agent takes to handle a contact as a metric to determine the agent's performance. This method of rating the agent's performance in relation to other agents works well when all the contacts are similar. However, in many environments, using these kinds of metrics results in some agents of the contact center being penalized for handling contacts that may be difficult.
For example, if an agent handles a high proportion of contacts that are difficult and thus takes a much longer time to handle the difficult contacts, the end result is that the agent's average time to handle a contact will be higher than another agent that is handling mostly easy contacts. In many cases, the agent that is handling the easier contacts may not be able to work the difficult cases because of lack of expertise. In this example, the agent who handles the easier contacts would be rated higher than the agent that takes the more difficult contacts. This can result in frustration and may ultimately lead to loss of key assets to the contact center. What is needed is a way to fairly account for the complexities of different types of contacts.